This book discusses contemporary banking and monetary policy issues from the perspective of the Austrian School of Economics. Based on the heritage of the Austrian school, leading scholars and practitioners offer a coherent diagnosis and analysis of the factors leading to Europe’s current financial crisis. The first part of the book discusses Ludwig von Mises’s and Friedrich August von Hayek’s ideas on banking and monetary policy from both historical and economic standpoints. It includes contributions on Austrian monetary dynamics and micro-foundational business cycle theory, von Mises’s concepts of liquidity and solvency of fractional-reserve banks, and liberalism of Austrian economics. The second part analyzes the measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) in light of the ideas of von Mises and Hayek. It includes contributions on non-neutrality of money, ECB monetary policy, and the future of the ECB. The third and final part presents discussions on monetary reforms, including contributions on Bitcoins, Cryptocurrencies and anti-deflationist Paranoia.

Annette Godart-van der Kroon (lic.jur) is the President Ludwig von Mises Institute – Europe and under her guidance, the Institute has organized a multitude of successful conferences and dinner debates since its establishment in 2002. LVMI – Europe has a Board of Directors composed of prominent economists, politicians and thinkers originating from Europe and beyond. She also possesses long-term experience as a civil affairs lawyer at the Courts of Roermond and Utrecht in the Netherlands. In 1996, she became a member of the Mont Pélerin Society, an influential society composed of Nobel Prize winning economists and other leading scholars. She is an author of several books and she presented many articles at Universities such as the University of Athens, Erfurt, Maastricht, Heilbronn, Lviv and others.Patrik Vonlanthen is founder and president of the Swiss Mises Institute. Patrik works as a senior project leader and consultant. As president of the Swiss Mises Institute he passionately promotes the core principles liberty, property and peace.